Does Mbox really suck this bad?

[Chris Coleman]

My Mbox will not work at all, unless it is connected 'before' boot up. ie If I replug it after the machine (Powerbook867) is running, I get an error saying that the hardware is in use by another application.
PS. Works fine on my G5 2x2 system. Plug and unplug to my hearts content!! ;-)

Again, it just seems like there's something with the USB implementation on Mac laptops. That's a vague, hopefully incorrect, guess, but that's what it seems like.

[L.A.Branville]

Chris Coleman wrote:

"USB implementation on Mac laptops".

Some Macs "share" USB busses..I don't know if this is the case with these particular laptops (or releated to the problem at hand), but there's a post in Mac TDM forum currently discussing this dilemma (if this alredy hasn't been discussed here).

Oops, I guess this has more to do with firewire..maybe USB too?

Len

[SimpleNatureSpirit]

It's not just MACs, this happens on PC laptops too.
MBox is just a flacky hardware implementation.
Plug & Play should be just that, specially the Play part.
Seems some driver developers at Digi should be fired

...and of course, sinse PTLE 6.7 came out,
us v6.4 smucks are totally out of luck
I had my MBox 3 months when v6.7 came out;
What a cruel joke indeed

[ricupad]

Again, it just seems like there's something with the USB implementation on Mac laptops. That's a vague, hopefully incorrect, guess, but that's what it seems like.

I've never had any problems in plugging and unplugging the MBox while my iBook is on. Actually, I only power down when entering an aircraft, otherwise the computer is in sleep mode when not in use.

Now pluggin or unpluggin while starting PT, that's a different story...

iBookG4 800
640 RAM
OSX3.2
PTLE 6.2.3

R.

[minister]

i have an mbox that i ran on a iMac G3 for while. worked fine. then i put on a G4 MDD, 867. again, ran fine. now i have it in a G5 iMac. runs fine. i am not implying that you guys don't know what you are doing, but i have never had near the problems you guys have. most of the work is just editing and some pre-mixing and everthing else is finished on an HD|2. but, i am happy with the mbox prucahse for my "c" room. just reporting my experience.

i don't envy you your problems. that sucks.

[Jperkins]

Yeah, i have to say, the M-Box is pretty cool, I'm using it on an eMac with 768 of Ram it runs fine, espcially for such a great price, I mean, what more do you want???

[tha k man]

Yeah, i have to say, the M-Box is pretty cool, I'm using it on an eMac with 768 of Ram it runs fine, espcially for such a great price, I mean, what more do you want???

The mBox runs quite well on the eMacs - I've set up a lab of them.

This issue here is with Mac laptops. What people want, is the same functionality that you are enjoying.

[Bryan T]

I haven't had a chance to read all of the comments on this thread, but I thought I'd throw in my experience. I have a 12" 1.0GHz iBook with 512 MB of RAM and an external LaCie Firewire 200 GB drive. I have an MBox and PT 6.4 with the most recent update and OS X 10.3.7. I was running into many of the problems described above with constant 9136 errors when recording just a track or two. After messing around with it and trying all of the things I uncovered on this forum I discovered that the problem was that I wasn't turning off my Airport card. Now I can perfectly replicate the 9136 errors and "white noise" during recording by having the Airport card on.

With the card switched off I can have upwards of 20 tracks with several D-Verb plug-ins. I'm sure you've checked the Airport card, but I'd suggest that you double check it, as it was definitely the source of my machines problems.

I'm loving the mobility that the MBox and iBook have given me over my desktop/001 setup!

Hope this helps,
Bryan

[Eric Spaceship]

Just wanted to add my $.02 for posterity.

Mbox performance is "about what I expect" on my TiBook 1Ghz 1Gb RAM. Not good (at all), but USB audio seems to top out right around when the machine does (%85 CPU or so).

On my new Dual 2.5GHz G5 (full RAM!), the Mbox drags the system down unmercifully. The G5 can only run up to ~%60 CPU before the "CPU usage holding off USB audio..." errors get out of control. Totally unacceptable. Of course, my CPU should be able to do my taxes and cure cancer in between samples --so no suprise that USB might be a constraint.

Having poured a bunch of cash into the DAW, I'm pretty determined to get full utilization out of it, so I've ordered an 002R for comparison. Will report back with the results.

...seems to me USB audio has been a big no-no for serious DAW users for a couple years.... why are we all so suprised?

[Bendrissa]

I'm surprised this is still about the M Box - it sounds, very clearly, like a Mac issue. I use an M Box and built-for-audio 1.8Ghz P4 laptop at work and it runs extremely well.